Emotional Instability
by Torixx
Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.
1. Prologue

Notes: Formerly called Therapy, the title changed to Emotional Instability, and probably will change again. I have this entire story written out, and I'll post once a week until all seven chapters are up--probably on Mondays, unless I'm not here. This would have been up yesterday (16 July), but my internet crapped out.

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo.

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious),mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

Prologue

"Hey, look who it is." God damn it all, it's the last day of school, why do they have to fuck around now?

"Get lost, asshole." I mutter, slamming my locker closed, the sound hollow now that there's no books in it. Most of the books have been returned to teachers, and I'm only carrying my math notebook. Last class of the last day, almost, and they decide to fuck with me. Today has been bad enough all ready.

A hand slams into my locker, a large hand, landing a few inches to the left of my head, the arm attached to it tensed, bared by the sleeveless jersey that one Hoshigaki Kisame is wearing. I inch to the right, only to bump into Momochi Zabuza. Finally bothering to look up, and see what the hell they want, I come face to face with Uchiha Shisui. Behind him is Itachi and this guy Sasori, who's supposed to graduate.

_This won't end well_. I have time to think, before there's a first moving towards my face. Amazingly, I duck the oncoming punch. Someone kicks me, right in the ribs, which makes me yelp. Something in my mind clicks--or maybe snaps--about then, and I decide I've had enough.

I don't remember much of what happens next, except pain and screams, some mine, most theirs. By the time my memory clears up again, Itachi, Kisame, Shisui, and Zabuza are gone, there's a lot of blood on the lockers and floor--I found out later I broke Kisame's nose--and my hands are wrapped around a very blue-looking Sasori's throat. He's clawing at my arm with one hand, and I wonder where the other one is, before I see it.

His left arm seems to be hanging by the socket, and there's a bone sticking out at his wrist. My eyes widen, as I let go, dropping him to the floor, backing up against the lockers. My mouth hangs open for a moment, before I start screaming, curling down on myself and shaking.

I think I black out after that.

--

End Notes: Feel free to tell me what you think, I love feedback. I won't be able to post up chapter one next Monday, since I think I'll be in Canada, _but_ if I get five or more reviews about this chapter, I'll try to post up chapter one before I leave, like Friday.

Notes Not Directly Related To The Story: I still need a beta reader, if anyone is interested. Right now I do all my own editing, normally by re-reading what I write a few days later, and trusting Microsoft Works to pick up my typos or spelling mistakes. If you'd like to beta this story or any others, please e-mail me.


	2. Monday

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo. 

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious), mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

Notes: Thanks for the reviews, scroll down past this is you don't care about responses.

narroch06 - Whee, my beta! Thank you, thank you, thank you! -super hug- My first beta ever! -hands over cookies and ice cream- And such a helpful one, too!

Kage Of Fire - It was only short because it was the prologue. But, hopefully this is more to your liking.

malk33 - Well, this is the more you need! Glad you like it.

green24 - You must and you shall. Thanks for the review. Was great to see after I got home from work. -smile-

Monday

"So, how was school?"

"Fine."

I suppose for any normal person, that would be the beginning of a conversation between a high schooler and a parent when school has ended and said high schooler got home. But I'm not normal, so instead that was me lying to my therapist--again. I wouldn't be here if school was 'fine'. And, sadly, she knows this.

"Anything interesting happen? Good grades? Bad grades? A lunch that wasn't disgusting?" She presses, as I take a seat on the couch on the other side of her desk; I remain sitting up straight, my backpack on the floor by my feet.

"I passed an English test." I say after a moment. It's almost always the same, Chiyo--that's my therapist, and I call her 'Chiyo' because I don't know what else to call her--asks me about my day, then makes me go into specifics. Eventually she'll get around to what really happened. She's so goddamn manipulative.

"Good job." She smiles, in a congratulating way, and I briefly wonder if this is what it's like to have a grandmother. I doubt it, grandmother's don't sit behind a big wooden desk and take notes while they talk to you, a tape recorder next to them. At least, I think they don't. I should ask Kankurou…

"Gaara? Are you still there?" Shit, did I get lost in my thought again? I must have… And now she'll want to know what I was thinking about.

"Yeah, sorry." I say finally, remembering after the word leaves my mouth that--as she says--I 'never need to apologize for anything' around her. "I was just kind of wondering if this is what it's like to have a grandmother--you know, without the note taking and tape recorder, but with the questions and… Uh… praise." I answer, flushing slightly. I zone out too much, it's why I don't do too well in school.

"Oh, I see…" She writes something else down, smiling slightly. "So, you passed an English test, that's great. What about math? I know last week you said that algebra was giving you trouble, is it still difficult? Or did you ask one of your siblings for help?"

Now here's where I wonder: Does she actually remember those kinds of details for every patient, or did she listen to last week's tapes before today's session, so she'd be able to keep me talking? "Algebra is still tough, but Temari is helping me out." I answer, shrugging some.

"That's good, it's always nice to be close to your siblings." She writes something else down, and I'm half-tempted to ask if I can see what she writes about me. Maybe she'll let me keep the yellow legal pad when--if?--I ever get to stop having these sessions.

"Is anything else going on at school, Gaara?" She asks after a few moments of rather awkward silence, something we have a lot. I don't talk about my feelings, even to people I trust. And after two months, I still barely know Chiyo.

"Football tryouts were last week, and Naruto found out he made Varsity this morning." I answer after a moment. I do this all the time, to see how perceptive the woman really is.

See, I'm technically in therapy because I had an 'episode' at the end of the school year last year, and nearly killed someone. Or at least that's what they tell me. For the first month or so of summer I was in a psych ward while they tried to figure out what triggered my mental melt-down and drove me to that point of insanity. All the brain scans they did, and all the docs in white lab coats looking me over and talking to me--and not getting answers--and in the end I told Kankurou, after he convinced them that I'd have another episode if they didn't let me out.

So yeah, I left the psych ward, got my baggy black clothes back--no more white hospital johnnies, yea--and that night while Kankurou and I were hanging out in his room I just told him.

Told him damn near everything, about how all year a bunch of kids had been making fun of me, shoving me into lockers and beating me up. About the names, and the jokes, and the childish meanness. And Kankurou actually _listened_. All those docs at the ward, they didn't really hear me when I spoke, maybe because I just babbled--_I want to get some ice cream, Daddy, please? Temari, you look fine, honestly, why would Kankurou lie to you? Oh hell no, I am not going to wear your kabuki make-up! Go to hell!--_but Kankurou did. He gave me feed-back, and asked questions--mostly about why I didn't tell anyone, which I still don't know the reasoning--and the next day he called up the psych ward and told them. So they put me on sedatives and sent me to Chiyo.

That was a month before school started. Now it's the end of September, and no one at school knows I go to therapy, just like no one knows I'm on pills. I'm sure some of them--like Naruto, who's my only real friend--notice that I'm a lot more mellow, almost empty in the mornings, just like I'm sure they notice that by the middle of the day I start to get agitated, and by the time the two-thirty bell rings, I'm mellow again. In fact, I'm almost sure Naruto knows I take some sort of medicine, because we eat lunch together, and every lunch time I have to go take my second sedative. The things only last six hours, so I take one when I get up, during my noon lunch, and then right before dinner. I don't bother with a midnight one, even if I'm hardly ever asleep then. Everyone else is, so there's nothing to piss me off.

Is Chiyo talking? I got caught up in my thoughts again, so I guess I missed another question from her "Huh?" I ask, rather unintelligently, blinking myself back to the current time and place.

She sighs some, setting her pen down for a moment. "Gaara, honestly, we only have an hour a night together, I'd really prefer it if you paid at least some attention. I know you don't want to be here, but if you cooperate and talk to me, you'll be able to stop coming here sooner." She sits back, picking up her yellow legal pad again. "Anyways, that's good that Naruto made the Varsity team, you said he had been hoping to. Now he'll be able to tell the other varsity boys to leave you alone, hm?"

"Yeah…" I say softly, even though I know it won't work. Most of them just won't listen, mainly Uchiha Itachi and his gang. They're scary, because nearly all of them are way bigger than any high school senior--which is what they all are--has any right to be, and most of them seem like they eat guys my size for breakfast.

I don't realize I'm speaking out loud until it's too late to shut myself up.

"Itachi and Kisame are in my phys ed class this year, and they cornered me in the locker room today after everyone else was gone." I take a deep breath, knowing that now I'll have to share the story, trying to keep myself from shaking. Sedatives stop me from getting angry and attacking random people, but they don't stop me from feeling panicky and shaky a lot of the time.

-Flashback-

_He was facing the wall, changing out of his sweatpants and t-shirt when they made their move. The only people left in the locker room were some freshmen who wouldn't dare say anything, so it was okay._

_Kisame and Itachi were both silent as they moved behind Gaara, Kisame grabbing his wrists just as he lifted his t-shirt over his head, turning him and slamming his arms into one of the lockers._

_Itachi stood there, facing him, looking smugly down at the trembling red-head. "You're little blond boyfriend making Varsity doesn't mean shit." He hissed, and Gaara swallowed, with some difficulty. "He doesn't have the balls to stand up to me, and even if he did, I'd pound his queer ass into the ground too. Hell, I might do that to him anyways, just for associating himself with you." Itachi sneered, bringing a hand up, lifting Gaara's chin in a faux gentle gesture, forcing green eyes to meet black ones._

_Gaara was trembling badly, trying to pull himself away from them, his eyes wide, terrified. It was times like this he wished he didn't have sedatives, he couldn't even force himself to get angry and fight back, since it was still strong in his system. And apparently, Itachi was at least smart enough to know that. He seemed to know that after lunch Gaara was somehow reduced to trembling instead of putting up some effort to fight back._

_The bell signaling the end of class rang, but neither Itachi nor Kisame made a move to leave him there. Itachi stood up, letting go of Gaara's chin, still staring down at him, his black-as-coal eyes cold and merciless. "Another thing, fag, if you ever so much as look at my brother again, I'll gouge your fucking ugly eyes out." Itachi turned then, and Kisame let his wrists go, giving him a growl and a sharp kick in the knee as he walked away, making Gaara fall to the ground--as if he wasn't going to all ready._

-End Flashback-

"…and that was how Naruto found me at the beginning of next class. He has phys ed then, and I guess that's kind of lucky…" I laugh, weakly, reaching down and rubbing the side of my knee where there is a bruise.

Chiyo looks concerned, standing up from her desk and walking over to me. She quickly rolls up my pants leg, her breath becoming a sharp intake of air when she sees my knee. Is it really that bad? I thought the swelling had gone down, though maybe it's just how nasty the bruise looks.

"I've been telling those doctors since you started coming here that you weren't the one with the anger problem, and you shouldn't be on sedatives. You need to fight back, or they're never going to stop. You just need to be controlled about _how_ you fight back." She mutters, grabbing her first aid kit, rubbing some sort of liquid on my knee before wrapping it in a bandage.

I don't bother saying anything through the ordeal, mentally berating myself for ever speaking. Chiyo knows more about me than my own father, though, so I guess its okay. She told me during our first session that she wasn't there to judge me, only to help.

It seem like she's the only one who can really see what was wrong with me, since I don't talk to those other doctors, not anything they wanted to hear, anyways. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm bipolar, or maybe schizophrenic, but I don't see things, or hear voices. I get angry sometimes, and depressed other times, and I'm scared a lot. I'm only really happy when it's just Kankurou and Temari and me at home, not that dad's a bad person. It's just… We were never close.

He sort of blames me for mom being dead, anyways, even if he tries not to scream it every time I mess up.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" I say suddenly, startling Chiyo, who's back before her desk, suddenly smiling. I hadn't noticed before, but I think I was trembling while I told my story, since my wrist bands are all out of place. I fix them as I talk, still grinning. "There's this new kid in school, a senior, named Haku or something, and he sat with Naruto and me during lunch today. He's really nice, and he thought my tattoo was pretty." I beam at Chiyo, and she smiles back. I once heard her tell Kankurou that she loves it when I smile, because it shows her that I'm not completely insane.

I really don't think I was supposed to hear her say that.

"That's great, Gaara. Our time is up today, but you'll have to tell me about him tomorrow." She answers, smiling slightly, waving for me to go. "Oh, don't forget, Wednesday is a group session, I'll call your brother and remind him, too, okay?" She asks, and I nod.

Group sessions are kind of weird, because they're not like people with the same sort of problems sitting around talking about how they try to get better. Technically, I'd have to go to every sort of group psychotherapy in existence, if everything my doctors said was true.

According to them, I'm: Dealing with anger issues (only when people piss me off), depressed (that's because I used to cut myself--so emo, huh?), bipolar (because I can go from happy to sad and back in seconds, just how I am), schizophrenic (I have no idea why, I've never claimed to see or hear things), insomniac (well that one's sort of true), suicidal (again, the cutting--damn it, I don't do that anymore!), homicidal (probably from that 'episode'), prone to panic-attacks (because you wouldn't get nervous if a six-foot-four football player was about to pound you into the ground), and suffering from mild post-traumatic stress syndrome (which makes me wonder, my whole life has been traumatic, am I dead now?). Yeah, group therapy is going to be hard to find.

"Oh Chiyo? Can I bring Naruto to this next group session? I… kind of want him to know where I go every night after school. He's starting to speculate I actually got a job." I joke lightly, still in a rather good mood. Naruto is my best friend, he deserves to know at least some of my life.

"Sure, if you really want him to come, I have no objections. You may want to tell him where he's going, though, some people are uncomfortably with the idea of therapy." She shrugs slightly, nodding wisely, flipping through her notes. "Oh, and getting a job would be good for you, it would fill the hours!" She calls as I finally leave the office, nodding to the secretary on the way out.

--

End Notes: My plans changed, since I don't know my own vacation schedule. Needless to say, this chapter has indeed gone up on Monday, since I was home and it didn't go up sooner because I left Wednesday evening.

A million thanks to my beta, narroch06, who helped me with some of the stuff in this chapter, and made it better. Shall be sending chapter two ASAP!

Expect chapter two to be up by next Monday, though again, the offer to update sooner stands. Five or more reviews for this chapter, and I shall update it on Friday. Wow, I love having the entire story written down, so I can update whenever.


	3. Tuesday

Notes: Formerly called Therapy, the title changed to Emotional Instability, and probably will change again. I have this entire story written out, and I'll post once a week until all seven chapters are up--probably on Mondays, unless I'm not here. Betaed version now.

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo.

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious), mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

I look back on this, and it feels a bit rushed. But it seems to work out in the end, you know? Feedback is appreciated, people who kiss my ass are loved. Ha-ha, ha-ha-ha.

Finally got the beta'd version up, things got kind of hectic. If you see random bold, that's me being too lazy to get rid of the correction indicators.

Review responses, that you can always skip.

Devil Subaru Chan - Sasuke makes an appearance in this chapter. Heh, I think he last like three lines. Glad you like it, hope I don't disappoint.

green24 - Woot, a double-reviewer! Glad that it didn't seem too fast, and all, and sorry for however long you had to wait.

Yourperfectdisaster - You mention that, and I think about it, and it seems true… And as for the idea of them being friends seeming odd, just image how things would be after the Chuunin exam stuff, with Gaara seeing that there's someone who understands him, ya know?

Glil - Well, I'm glad you found the story too, and don't worry, the ending _shouldn't_ make you cry. And, obviously, this is as soon as I was able to update.

llshadowmakerll - Glad you like the plot, and I hope this update was fast enough for you.

As always, a million and a half thanks to my beta, narroch06, who helped me with the editing of this chapter. Love ya lots!

Tuesday

"I'd tell you not to look, but you will anyways, so be subtle when you turn around and gape in awe. Sasuke's headed this way." Naruto hisses, quite abruptly, during lunch. I roll my eyes, sparing the briefest glance over my shoulder, before whispering back.

"Naruto, we're in the damn corner, near the vending machines, he's probably just go--"

"Hi." A voice cut me off as someone slid into the seat next to me; the sound of a soda being opened was heard over the general roar of the cafeteria, along with the sound of Naruto's jaw hitting the table.

Now, don't get me wrong, Naruto and I are unpopular. But we're not complete losers… I think. Either way, some people will talk to us. Generally, those are people with no dignity to lose, or people who are forced to.

Uchiha Sasuke fits in neither of those categories. According to most girls at our school, he's in a category of his own. And I have to agree with them.

"Hi." Naruto finally squeaks out, kicking me under the table and making me jump.

"Uh… yeah… Hi." I know, I'm stupid, shut up. I glance at the clock, suddenly jumping up and grabbing my backpack and lunch tray. "I've gotta go, see you later Naruto." I mutter, rushing out of there and dumping my tray on the way. Technically there's still five minutes before I have to take my medicine, but I think I'd die of humiliation if he sat near me for much longer.

Oh, _fuck_, and I didn't even say goodbye to him. Damn it, I'm such a moron. No casual 'Later, Sasuke' or even 'Tell your brother that you wanted to be near me, so he won't hurt me. I kind of like my eyes.'

All right, maybe not the second one.

Anyways, I go to the nurse's office and get my medicine from Shizune, who--much like Chiyo--asks me how my day has been going so far. Considering I'm blushing like mad, I have a feeling she wouldn't appreciate the truth, so I shrug it off. A nice 'yeah, my day is going fine, my crush actually spoke to me… You know the one, Uchiha Sasuke, most popular guy in school? Football, Basketball, Track, AP classes… No, I'm not stalking him!'.

Actually, the nurse and I aren't that close, even with our daily interaction.

After I'm mellowed out, and pretty much too high to give a fuck--effect of the drugs, normally lasts about ten minutes--I go hole up in the library. No, I'm not some nerd, the library is hardly ever used. Hell, even the librarians aren't there a lot of the time.

It's as I'm sitting down at a table with my personal copy of _Rolling Stone _that my mind decides to fill me in on a rather important fact: Uchiha Itachi, Momochi Zabuza, Hoshigaki Kisame, and Uchiha Shisui were all in lunch with me. I guarantee Itachi saw his brother go over and talk to me, and I guarantee that I won't be able to lie to him and say he was asking Naruto about something sports-related. Even if I did, he'd find out from Sasuke later that I lied, and I'd rather not think of what would happen to me. He'd probably sell my organs to black market surgeons.

My best hope would be to tell Itachi that Sasuke came over and sat down, and I left. Then when he interrogates his brother later, he'll find out that is really happened.

And still kick my ass.

Lovely.

I groan, burying my head in my hands, trying not to think about it. Really, being too high to give a fuck should last longer, maybe then I'd make it through P.E. without problems.

I suppose it's worth mentioning that when he's not around Itachi, Zabuza is actually kind of nice. Sure, he's a tall and well-built football player who does wrestling too, but he doesn't really go along with the whole bullying thing. He'd rather tell someone to fuck off and leave him alone than beat on them. Itachi just seems to bring out his mean side--or intimidate him. Itachi's small, but he's mostly muscle, and absolutely terrifying half the time.

The bell to end lunch rings right about then and I stand up slowly, dreading another P.E. class. I'm terrible at anything that involves physical activity, except maybe walking. The over-enthusiastic or the scary-as-hell-bitch teacher seems to always find a way to make me at least walk around the gymnasium.

I get to the locker room late since the gym and the library are on opposite sides of the school, and change quickly, stepping out into the large wood floored room and looking around tensely. Immediately I spot Itachi and Kisame playing basketball, and sigh with relief. They won't notice me if they're distracted with sports, I'm safe for now.

Naruto isn't in my P.E. class, as I said, and he's really just about my only friend, unless Haku counts. But Haku didn't even eat lunch with us today, I have no idea why. Maybe he decided he wanted to have actual friends at this school.

The class goes by without any issues, besides someone hitting me in the head with a football. But I have a feeling that was an accident, considering there was a brief call of 'heads up' before I got nailed. And I lifted my head too, they shoulda yelled 'heads down'. Anyways, no incidents really, something I'll be more than happy to tell Chiyo. She says that if things get much worse, she'll get me transferred to Naruto's class. And I don't exactly want to rely on him to defend me all the time.

It's while we're in the locker room that things get bad. I'm trying to change quickly, but the combination on my locker is stuck, and I left my wallet in there. And even with it locked up, I don't trust my wallet alone in this locker room. Besides, I need my money so I can get something to eat after school.

I mutter kicking the locker, sadly drawing attention to the little corner I'm hidden in behind the other rows of lockers. Before my mind has time to tell me I'm stupid, a hand slams into my locker, nearly denting it. Smartly, I jump back, and knock into someone's chest. Oh, fucking lovely.

I try to stop my still hurting knee from banging into the side of the bench Itachi shoves me at, but it doesn't do much good, I just end up crushing my fingers between my knee and the side of the bench. Kisame's standing on the other side of me, blocking my way back towards the gym, and Itachi is leaning against the wall in front of me. Even if I had the nerve to try and get past him, he'd grab me in a second and probably throw me back into the bench. So instead, I sit there, shaking like hell and staring at the wall somewhere near Itachi's knees.

"I was even _nice_ about telling you to stay away from him," Itachi begins ranting immediately, complete with hand gestures. A sick, suicidal part of my mind wonders what he'd do if I suggested he joined drama, he's pretty good at acting. Or at least, he's dramatic enough. He'd probably kill me for even thinking it, though. "…really gonna get it now." Shit, I should probably be paying attention.

"I didn't do anything." I mutter; again, my body ignores my brain's commands to shut up and cower.

"Didn't _do_ anything! You think I didn't fucking _see_ you!" He's glaring at me, even without looking, I can feel it. A hand grabs me by the front of my shirt, and Itachi lifts me up to eye level with him, a couple of inches off the ground. "Answer me…" He's not yelling anymore, but that's probably worse. I get the feeling he's going to hit me no matter what I say.

"But I d-didn't…" I stutter out, my eyes wide, seeming unable to move from his. "He c-came over and sat down and I l-left…" I gasp suddenly, all the air leaving my lungs in a rush as I'm punched in the stomach. Itachi lets go of my shirt, and I crumple to the floor, holding my stomach and whimpering.

From somewhere in the black haze of the place my mind goes whenever I get the wind knocked out of me, I hear another voice, not belonging to Itachi.

For a brief second, I have hope that it's someone there to save me. Damn, I'm a moron.

"Hey, Itachi, he didn't _really_ do anything. Sasuke did kinda go over there on his own, you know."

"Kisame. Shut. Up." Itachi growls, and again I can feel his glare on me before I'm lifted, strong hands under my arms, roughly squeezing to bring me partially back to reality.

The slap to my face brings me the rest of the way back.

Itachi's eyes are staring directly into mine when I manage to focus again, and it's not the best thing to come back to the present and see. He's frowning, looking almost thoughtful, before speaking up. "You've obviously told someone about us, queer boy, because I got called into the school counselor this morning." He offers a fake smile here "Not that I don't appreciate getting out of history, but her questions about my home life were rather rude, and it was obvious she was trying to figure out if something was going on." He pauses here, as if to let it sink in before continuing. "I hate nosy people. And I hate people who can't keep their mouths shut even more. You ever speak of this again, or even write about it in the diary you probably keep, and I'll kill you." It's freaky how serious he is, I don't have any doubts he would.

Itachi turns and walks away then, and Kisame sets me back down on the bench, his open palm smacking into the back of my head as he walks by. Sometimes he's really scary and freakish and cruel, but other times he's… not so horrible. Hell, he got my locker open for me, though I don't think it'll ever close again now.

I pocket my wallet, wondering when I'll stop shaking, and gingerly examine my stomach. It's turning red, great. A look in the mirrors shows that there's a light red mark on my face, one that probably won't bruise.

_You ever speak of this again, or even write about it in the diary you probably keep, and I'll kill you. _He sounded so serious when he said that, but Chiyo will get the truth out of me somehow. She won't believe they just found another target and decided to leave me alone.

Maybe if I ask her if she called the school about it, and explain… But that'd get him arrested, no doubt, and he'd probably break out of jail and find me.

I sigh, feeling upset, deciding to just hide out in the locker room until Naruto shows up for his class, then see if I can go to the nurse. I'll say I'm feeling sick, which isn't far from the truth. I'm probably going to end up throwing up in a few minutes.

After school, as I walk up the stairs to the floor Chiyo's office is on, I stop into one of the buildings many bathrooms. A glance in the mirror tells me that my cheek is still red, and near my chin it's slightly bruised. Great… My stomach has a large bruise in the middle of it, in the shape of a fist. I sigh, half thinking I should just go hole up in an alley somewhere until it's time for my session to be over, except Chiyo will call my house, and I'll catch hell from Kankurou for not going.

I fix my shirt, glad that it's one of my larger t-shirts, before finishing the walk to the third floor and sit down to wait for my name to be called.

I've seen Chiyo's two-to-three pm patient before, some girl about my age with dark hair and really pale eyes. She always looks nervous, and jumpy, and from what I've over-heard--not my fault I'm an eavesdropper--she comes from an abusive family, and actually got sent here by her cousin.

"G-goodbye…" She whispers to Chiyo as she opens the door, her eyes down as she walks to the desk. The nice part of me wants to talk to her, but I doubt either of us could actually get through a conversation. I've heard her trying to talk, and she has a really bad stutter. And I'm just not one for random conversations.

"Gaara, stop zoning out and get your butt in here!" Chiyo calls and I stand up, dragging my bag behind me and into her office. I take a seat on her couch as she switches tapes. After a moment of fumbling with the tape recorder, she turns to me smiling.

"So, how was your day?"

"Fine…" I mumble, eyes cast towards the ground. This is the problem with having a therapist. Anyone else would assume I had a bad day and leave me alone. She reads my body language as 'today was worse than usual and I don't want to talk about it, please'…Then she makes me talk about it anyways.

'Did you ask Naruto about tomorrow afternoon?" She persists, obviously wanting to get me to talk.

"Forgot…" Another lousy thing about a therapist: they take one-word answers as a cry for help, instead of a request to fuck off.

"Well, you'll have to ask him tomorrow and hope for the best." She leans forward on her elbows, practically leaning over the desk. "So, what happened at school today?"

"Sasuke came over and sat with us at lunch, but I had to leave as soon as he sat down." Damn, how does she do that to me?

"I see… Anything else?"

I know she can see the bruise on my chin, probably because I keep rubbing at it, and I'm sure she knows my stomach hurts, because I'm holding it. Between the time I decided to just wait for Naruto and then go to the nurse, I threw up twice, luckily in the toilet. That's not good, because I don't tend to eat a lot anyways, so between skipping breakfast and then forcibly losing my old pizza for lunch, I'm starving.

"N-nothing…" I whisper, eyes still down, a hand reaching up to rub at them. Damn it, I will _not_ cry. There's no reason to cry.

_You ever speak of this again, or even write about it in the diary you probably keep, and I'll kill you._ Itachi's cold voice echoes through my head, and I shudder, and before I can stop myself there's tears spilling from my eyes. _This isn't good, I'll ruin my make-up. _I think sarcastically. Yes, I wear eye make-up. It makes people feel better to assume I'm some goth-emo person who likes to wear lots of eyeliner, than let them see the dark circles around my eyes from not sleeping.

Chiyo stands up, moving quickly around her desk and wrapping her arms around me, handing me a tissue from the box on top of her desk. "It's good to let emotions out instead of keeping them bottled up inside…" She whispers, stroking my hair. Damn, this feels creepy. That thought alone is enough to make me stop crying, just from the absurdity of it.

Chiyo lets go once she sees I'm calmed down, sitting down behind her desk again. I grab another tissue and wipe my eyes quickly, not caring if my make-up is smudged to hell.

"He told me to stay away from Sasuke, because he knows I l-like him…" I finally whisper, pulling my knees up to my chest, kicking my shoes off quickly to keep from getting the sofa dirty. "And…" I swallow hard. I don't want to die, not at all. I like being alive. If I tell Chiyo everything, and Itachi does get locked up, at least one of his cronies will randomly murder me at some point. I know that his cousin Shisui hates me too, and he's like Itachi, only taller and with muscles on his muscles.

I shake my head slightly, looking down and muttering. "And he said that he was gonna get Naruto kicked off of Varsity…" It's a lie, but not entirely. He didn't tell me directly about getting Naruto kicked off of Varsity, but I heard him talking to Zabuza about doing it.

"If Naruto has the skill to be on Varsity, he won't get kicked off just because Itachi tells the coach to do it." Chiyo answers me, sensibly. How she heard me, I'll never know.

"But the coach really likes Itachi and Kisame and them, and Itachi is team captain. All he has to do is say that Naruto isn't being a team player, and he'll be gone." I protest, sitting up.

"You know, maybe I should get someone of higher power than myself and the school counselor involved in this…" Chiyo say after a moment, tapping her chin in thought. "Itachi is obviously very troubled, if he's trying this hard to make your life, and the life of your friend, utter hell. Perhaps I should call his parents, or even the authorities. He could probably be sent to jail, or at least a juvenile center for assault."

"No! You can't!" I sit up straight, my eyes wide, desperate. "He said that if I tell anyone he'll… he'll…" I trail off, choking back a sob, grabbing another tissue from the box quickly. Damn it, why am I crying like a fucking girl today?

"He'll do what?" Chiyo asks softly, again beside me rubbing my back gently.

I can't tell her the truth, or I really will be dead. "He said he'd tell… S-sasuke if I told anyone…" I whisper, letting out a shaky breath, closing my eyes for a moment.

"I see…" Chiyo says after a pause, and I can tell she doesn't think that's a bad idea. In your face, therapist, I can read you too. Except it's a _terrible_ idea to tell Sasuke I like him. It's called a secret crush for a reason.

I don't know when exactly we moved, but a few moments later I've been to the bathroom, washed my face, and now I'm sitting on the couch again, drinking a glass of semi-warm water from the cooler outside her door.

Maybe Chiyo's right, and I need to start letting my emotions show, like a girl. I've really only showed the basic ones around most people: anger, happiness, fear. A lot of the time I do keep everything bottled up inside, and then let it all out in some insane outburst. Probably what happened last year.

"I think I just figured out exactly what my problem is." I say after a moment, shaking my head. "Unless the plan from the start was to make me figure it out on my own, I don't need therapy anymore." I grin, kind of a weak grin, flopping back against the side of the couch. "I keep everything bottled up inside, then it all comes out in this big boom of one emotion."

"You're better at self-analysis than most people would think." Chiyo says after some contemplation. "I suppose that you'll still need sessions, but not with me. Someone better at explaining about emotions and how to express them. For now, I guess we can finish up this week, and then move on. An hours up, don't forget to ask Naruto tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow." I wave as I leave the office, walking quickly down the stairs and towards the bus stop.

Tuesdays are my nights to fix dinner, along with Thursday. On Monday and Saturday Kankurou cooks, and Wednesday and Sunday Temari does. Friday nights Dad comes home early and either takes us out, orders out, or cooks something.

Every time one of us has to cook, we have the option of actually _cooking_ or using our own money and ordering take-out for the other three. While actually cooking is a pain and the kitchen has bad circulation so it gets hot easy, it's cheaper than paying for delivery and wondering if everyone will like what you ordered.

--

Bet you thought every chapter was gonna be at the therapy session, huh? So did I, when I originally wrote this, and a lot of major plot points take place there (see above for one), but there is some out-of-therapy happenings, that aren't in flashback form.

Five reviews makes an update, as always.


	4. Wednesday

Notes: Formerly called Therapy, the title changed to Emotional Instability, and probably will change again. I have this entire story written out, and I'll post once a week until all seven chapters are up--probably on Mondays, unless I'm not here.

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo.

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious), mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

Ah, the group therapy session. And some Sand-Sibling-Love. Not incest, you freaks, just them being all… friendly to each other.

llshadowmakerll - Reviewed twice in the same night, such dedication -tear- And, thank you. -smile-

green24 - Yeah, Chiyo's like "-stare- You're depressed, talk about it" and Gaara's all 'wtf?' And, him crying is just adorable. -hugs ChibiGaara- 

Glil - I'm glad you get caught up in my story, I live to serve. As for things turning out better… Well, there's always the saying 'things get worse before they get better', right?

yukiislikesnow - Whoo, a new reader! -superheart- Glad you like it.

DemanTear - Whoo, thank you for the fave, and the review!

fullmetalguitar - He's not as homicidal because his life hasn't been quite as fudged up. But he's pretty crazy. Glad you're liking it.

Wow, six reviews! -hearts readers and reviewers-

Wednesday

Naruto looks nervous as we walk towards Chiyo's office together, and I don't blame him. He's going to get a lot closer look into my life than most people ever see into the life of their friends.

"You don't have to come, you know." I say as we approach the building, glancing at him. I asked him if he wanted to during lunch, and he was kind of slow to agree, but he did.

"Nah, it's okay. What kind of friend am I if I can't do this?" He asks, grinning, then nearly tripping over the sidewalk.

Holy hell, he's nervous. "Don't worry about it, Kankurou and Temari are gonna be there, and we're not really doing anything."

"I'll be fine…" Naruto says firmly, even if he still looks nervous.

I shrug, deciding to take his word for it, pushing open the door to the big office building Chiyo's office is in. As we climb the stairs, Naruto looks more and more nervous. It's almost funny, except that freaking out my friend wasn't exactly the plan of the day.

Kankurou and Temari are in the waiting room when we get to Chiyo's floor, and both greet us casually, as if Naruto isn't shaking with nerves. Or as if I'm not, for that matter.

At exactly three in the afternoon, the girl who sees Chiyo before me exits the office, walking to the secretary, sending nervous glances at us the entire time. I don't exactly blame her, my siblings and I can be described as 'scary' at times. Apparently she doesn't have group therapy, though.

Naruto nudges me once she's out of site and whispers--not so subtly--his question of her identity.

"That's Hyuuga Hinata, the two-to-three-p.m. patient. I don't talk to her." I whisper back, thankfully quieter than my blond friend. His face twists into a look of concentration for a moment, before Chiyo calls us in, and he just looks nervous again.

"Good afternoon Gaara, Kankurou, Temari, Naruto." She greets us all with a smile and a wave. Aside from the 'therapy couch', as I call it, there are now two extra chairs in the room. Since it's what I always do, I take a seat on the couch, while Kankurou and Temari sit in the chairs--my brother on my left, my sister on my right--Naruto looks around for a place to sit for a moment, before sitting down next to me.

"Well, now, how was everyone's day?" Chiyo asks us, smiling at each of us in turn.

"I got a promotion at work." Temari speaks up, since it's her unofficial job to start conversation if things get silent. She's freakishly good at it, must be a girl thing.

"That's good, it shows you're a hard worker." Chiyo smiles some, before looking at me and Naruto on the couch.

"I told the cafeteria worker that her cookies resembled rocks and made her cry." I say at last, almost laughing at the memory. Next to me, Naruto stays silent. Apparently he doesn't understand that being stared at means start talking.

"That's… interesting." Chiyo actually seems at a loss, but I can hear Kankurou trying not to laugh next to me. Suddenly, her sharp gaze is on him. "And what about you, young man? Did you do anything constructive with your day?"

"I… umm… I passed a history test!" It's funny how nervous Chiyo can make my big brother.

"Well, that's good news." She smiles some, sitting back. "And speaking of good news, Gaara, have you shared yours with anyone yet?"

I shake my head, unable to help it as I grin. "I don't have to come here for therapy any more, we figured out what's wrong with me!" I announce, looking around quickly for reactions.

Temari is grinning probably more than me, though she looks a bit surprised. Kankurou's staring at me like I'm crazier than he thought, probably because he didn't think anyone would ever figure me out. Naruto still looks nervous, but he throws an arm around me in a friendly gesture anyways.

"We're going to finish up this week, then we've gotta find someone who's good with emotions, or something, 'cause apparently I do the guy thing and keep everything bottled up inside, until it just explodes in some big, emotional burst of something. Which is what happened last year." I continue, glancing at Chiyo to make sure that's correct. She nods, before speaking up.

"I've all ready talked to some of my colleagues, and they're recommending someone who works in the area, down town." She adds in. For the first time, I notice that she doesn't have her yellow legal pad or tape recorder. Must be she doesn't expect a lot of therapy to happen today.

"Now that that's announced, Gaara, why don't you tell me about your day?" That manipulative bitch, I bet she hid the tape recorder so I'd feel more free to talk.

My day was, as usual, pretty sucky. I didn't get beat up on, exactly, unless being tripped in the hallways is being beat up on, but I heard enough things to put it up there on the miserable list.

Unbidden, the whispers I heard come back to me.

-Flashback-

"_Fucking sick, isn't he?"_

"_Queer? You're sure?"_

"_Totally gay. And he likes _Uchiha Sasuke_." _

"_Uchiha Itachi said he caught the little fairy staring at him in the locker room."_

"_You know that Hoshigaki Kisame guy? He says that he found gay porn in his locker." _

"_Eww! And I thought he was cute once! That's just wrong!" _

_All day part of him had wanted to scream that he could hear them. But that likely wouldn't help, so instead he had tried to be less noticeable, sticking close to the walls and getting to his classes quickly. Somehow, nothing had happened in p.e. not even in the locker room afterwards, where he expected to get beat up._

-End Flashback-

Forgetting that I'm sharing the couch, I kick off my shoes and pulling my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them. Naruto knows how my day was, he heard all the whispers, and since I 'came out' to him, I know they didn't affect him. But I can't help but wonder if when I relay the events of the day, he'll see them differently.

"My day sucked major balls." I start, just to let everyone present know _how_ bad it was. "Somehow that bastard Itachi managed to tell the _entire fucking school _my big secret, even about Sasuke, and I had to listen to people whisper about me all day. Some idiots even came up and _asked_ me if I had porn in my locker--which I don't." I pause here, letting out a slightly shaky breath. Even if I'm supposed to be showing my emotions more, there's no way I'm going to cry in front of my siblings and Naruto. They'd probably tease me about it for ages.

I glance up, and notice the thoughtful expression on Chiyo's face. I can tell all ready, she's going to call his parents, or maybe the cops. He could probably be locked up on harassment charges, and assault. Assuming his rich parents don't just pay his way out of it for him.

The worst part about today was lunch, by far. Our school is kind of small, so everyone has the same lunch period, and I happened to glance over at Sasuke today, and saw him staring at me. At first I couldn't read his expression, but then I saw it. His eyes met mine for a moment, and there was disgust there.

I remember thinking _there goes my chance for a relationship_, before I went to the nurse to get my afternoon meds. After that there wasn't much to think about, I was too zoned out for most of the day, until I met Naruto at my locker after school.

After the group session, which nothing much gets done in, Kankurou drives us all home, giving Naruto a ride, even though he lives in the opposite direction as us. He says it's the least he can do for a friend.

At Naruto's apartment complex, Kankurou stops the car, and I get out with the blond. He pauses, staring at me as I close the car door, one eyebrow raised.

"I just wanted to… thank you for coming with me today." I mutter, looking down. This is such a girl thing to do.

"Hey, no problem. Gave me something to kill time, and what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?" he grins, and for a sick moment I think we're going to have a LifeTime moment and hug. Instead, he shoulders his backpack and walks towards the front door of his building, hand raised in a one-finger salute. "Later, Gaara, see you in school!" He calls, before vanishing inside.

I grin, waving before he disappears, then getting back into the car. I'm still grinning, and Kankurou grins back at me.

"There's an ice cream parlor between here and home, wanna stop?" He asks, his mind obviously all ready made up.

"Kankurou! For the love of God, it's October! Why would the ice cream place be open?"

"Because they make hot chocolate too, Temari." he counters my sister, signaling and pulling into the store. It's almost empty, but that's okay.

We make our way up to the counter, looking over to choices. I'm about to grab my wallet when Kankurou stops me. "My treat." he grins, pulling out his own wallet. I won't complain, I've been short on cash recently anyways.

"If you're paying, _dear brother_," Temari begins in an exaggerated way. "I'll have a double-scoop hot fudge sundae on a cone, with extra chocolate sprinkles!" She beams, and Kankurou looks nervous.

"I'll have a double-scoop strawberry, rainbow sprinkles." I add in, grinning like a fool.

"You guys are lucky I got paid yesterday." he mutters, pulling out a twenty dollar bill, giving our orders to the girl behind the counter. He gets a butterscotch cone for himself.

"Aww, thanks, bro!" Temari laughs some, hugging us both. See, this is probably another reason I like guys, if all girls are like Temari then any girlfriend I could have would scar me for life.

Once our ice cream is ready, we head back out to the car, not getting in yet. Kankurou turns it back on, turning on the stereo as I hop onto the trunk and Temari sits down on a bench, and Kankurou moves to lean against the side of our rusty four-door.

"Ya know." I say around licks of my ice cream. "This almost makes up for the shitty day."

"Hey, if people keep bothering you, just let us know. If I can't kill them, Temari sure as hell will." Kankurou tells me, making me grin.

"Hell yeah! Anyone who hurts my little brothers deserves a kick in the balls, with my steel-toe combat boots!" Temari grins, as Kankurou and I cringe.

"That might be pushing things too far." I mumble, even though the idea of Itachi holding himself and crying in a high, squeaky voice is wonderful.

"You guys are too nice is all." My sister shrugs, finishing her sundae, just as I take the last bite of my cone. Kankurou has been done for ages, he eats fast. "Anyways, let's get home, it's my turn to cook dinner, and Kin, one of my co-workers, gave me this great stew recipe!" I think Temari's the only one of us who enjoys cooking. Another girl thing, I bet. 

--

Whoo, another chapter down, and this time I got six reviews. This chapter was beta'd by a friend of mine, since I begged him, and promised him there wasn't anything 'iffy' (like guys diving over each other and ripping their clothes off -giggle-), since I didn't wanna pressure narroch06 with another chapter, when I still haven't gotten Tuesday back yet. Anyways, enjoy, and five reviews gets you Thursday.

And Thursday is fun.


	5. Thursday

Notes: Formerly called Therapy, the title changed to Emotional Instability, and probably will change again. I have this entire story written out, and I'll post once a week until all seven chapters are up--probably on Mondays, unless I'm not here.

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo.

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious), mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

Devil Subaru Chan - Of course there's more of Sasuke. There's always more of Sasuke.

green24 - It is sad. But, I'm pretty sure I promised a happy ending, and there's still two chapters (after this one). Hope lives on!

yukiislikesnow - of course you were mentioned, you reviewed. -smile-

Glil - Glad you continue to like this. -smile- I figured I was having enough drama, and need some humor. And, here is the update.

DemanTear - Yeah, mean people suck. And stop hugging Gaara, he's all ready traumatized! -giggle-

Again, an unbetaed chapter. I think I like it this way, though. Sorry for not updating early, I was exhausted from work.

Thursday

Lunch again, and today I did not make any cafeteria workers cry. I'm so proud of myself.

Now that everyone knows I'm gay, I've been getting so many weird looks. But somehow, I don't really give a damn. Haku finally came back and sat with us, and explained that he'd been busy fixing his schedule the past two lunch periods. Sounds fair enough to me.

"Hey, Gaara, you-know-who is coming," Naruto whispers suddenly, making me almost drop my pizza--which, by the way, is burned horribly, since the lunch worker person is a bitch.

"The good one or the bad one?" I whisper back, taking another bite of pizza. He doesn't get a chance to answer, though, as someone sits down next to me.

"Hey," Uchiha Sasuke says, giving a bit of a nod to our small group. Haku smiles and says hi, as does Naruto, while I just sit there. I can practically feel the embarrassment that's about to happen.

Things get really quiet at the table then, before I realize they're all waiting for me to say something. Not bothering to look up, I mumble a greeting and go back to wondering if I can drown myself in my milk to save myself the embarrassment.

Damn, this is so awkward. The person sitting next to me is the guy I've had a crush on for almost a year now. This guy's older brother is threatening to kill me, and has all ready publicly humiliated me and beaten me up more than once.

Naruto saves the day, though, which reminds me why I absolutely adore my best friend.

"So, Sasuke, you heard those rumors going around?"

Scratch that, the blond moron can burn in hell for all eternity.

It should be noted that Sasuke and Naruto are not friends. The last time they socialized by choice, Naruto ended up in the fountain at the mall, and Sasuke got kicked out of Bath and Body Works for three months. It was a really weird situation, but I still wish I had brought a video camera with me to see it.

"I hear a lot of rumors. Most of the time I write them off as bullshit, because people like my brother and his cronies start them. Like the one about the gym teacher having an affair with the creepy science teacher." Sasuke answers, and I blink. So he thinks that Itachi was lying? I don't know if I should be disappointed or not.

"Dude… that was true." Naruto says after a moment, and I choke on my milk. The 'creepy science teacher' is like sixty, and the gym teachers are both like twenty. I really don't want to know which gym teacher had the affair, either. Ew.

"Exactly. I'm going to buy a soda." Sasuke says, pushing himself up from the table. I glance over to mutter a farewell with everyone else, but get distracted about halfway. Partly because he's _right there_ next to me, and partly because I see him drop a piece of paper.

But mostly from the proximity.

Sasuke walks off then, and I grab the paper, ready to call after him--correction, have Naruto call after him--that he dropped it, but something compels me to open it.

_Gaara,_

_Call me tonight, sometime before eight when a certain jackass I have to live with isn't home. Unless I answer the phone, hang up and try my cell. Want to talk to you._

Below that are two phone numbers, labeled as 'home' and 'cell'. My mouth drops open a bit, and I quickly refold the note and push it into my pocket. This is just… wow.

"Gaara, wake up!" A hand snaps in front of my face, and I jump, eyes darting upwards to Naruto. "Finally. You aren't gonna believe this, dude."

"Try me." I answer back, eyes darting towards the clock. I'm not on the sedatives anymore--Chiyo works freakishly fast with that stuff--but it's a habit of mine.

"Okay, you know that girl we saw last night, Hinata? It turns out that her cousin is Neji, the guy who helped me get a job at that one restaurant, because me and him used to take martial arts lessons together. I called him last night to tell him that I met my dream girl, and he said she was his cousin and from there… Well, a lot of stuff happened. But he's gonna talk to her today, and then call me back tonight and maybe I'll get to go on a date with her or something." Naruto grins, and I try to take in all that information. Haku, for his part, looks confused beyond all reason, before going back to his salad.

"That's… great?" I offer, tilting my head to the side.

"That's more than great! I could tell just by looking at her, she's my dream girl!" Naruto answers, before the lunch bell rings. "Anyways, I'll call you tonight and fill you in on the details, later!" And with that we go our separate ways.

It isn't until I'm up on the third floor, waiting for three in the afternoon to come around, that true realization hits me. I have to have my session, get home at about four-thirty, cook and eat dinner somewhere around by six, and before eight call Sasuke. Plus Naruto will probably call me sometime after seven, since that's when he knows I'm not eating dinner. This is going to get complicated, especially since we don't have call waiting or anything.

Hinata leaves Chiyo's office then, and I glance up at her, almost wanting to offer a smile. When she sees me, however, she hurries away down the stairs, so I shrug and just go into the room, plopping down on the couch and dropping my bag at my feet.

"How was your day, Gaara?" Chiyo asks, and I almost grin.

"A lot better than yesterday." I answer, smiling a bit. "The football team had an away meet today, so almost no one was in gym, and the halls were empty. And I got back a quiz during math class, and I'm starting to get this algebra crap. I didn't pass, but I realized what my mistakes were, and talked them over with the teacher." I pause for a moment, trying to recount the rest of my day. I'll leave out the bit about Sasuke, that's too personal to be on a tape recorder. There's really nothing much else that happened, since Naruto was away at the football game all afternoon.

"That's good. I got everything lined up with the specialist, and she's set to start seeing you in two weeks, in the same three-to-four pm slot you have now. I called your house and left a message about it, mentioning that your family will probably want to go down to the office for the first session. The secretary should give you directions when you're leaving."

We sit in silence for a moment, as I wonder if there's really anything else to talk about. Somehow, we end up on the topic of the Varsity football team, and how well they're doing so far this year.

After I leave Chiyo's office--spending an entire forty-five minutes talking about nothing--I walk home, and decide to make spaghetti for dinner. It's something easy to cook, at least. I briefly calculate that--unless Dad works late--I'll be able to be on the phone with Sasuke by six-thirty. Figure in that Naruto is going to call, I give myself a half hour to an hour to talk with Sasuke, unless someone else is on the phone. But that's not _too_ likely, since Temari bought a cell phone, and Kankurou doesn't talk a lot. Dad has a cell phone, too.

I can hole up in my room with the cordless and hope for the best, say that I have to go at seven-thirty so Naruto can call.

Having a social life is such a bother, I now realize.

All of this is passing through my mind as I prepare some quick Italian bread, salad, spaghetti, and sauce. Normally I'm not good at multi-tasking, but when it comes to cooking I can manage. Considering I can't even walk and chew gum, this is something to be proud of.

Dinner is as uneventful as always, unless Kankurou getting yelled at for kicking Temari under the table fits in the category of 'eventful'. Which it really doesn't, because that happens almost every night.

Once the dishes are done and everyone else has settled in for their usual evening routines, I grab the cordless telephone and head up to my room. I sit down on my bed to dial the first phone number on the paper--after a quick glance at the clock--and realize my hands are shaking. Oh, wonderful joyous… joy. I'm nervous as bloody hell, this is going to be fun.

Either way, I dial the number, managing to control my shakes enough not to mess it up, and hold my breath as it rings. The instructions are to hang up if Sasuke doesn't answer, but how will I know--

"Uchiha residence, Sasuke speaking." A voice answers, and I nearly faint. Mostly from relief, but don't get me wrong, knowing that I'm actually about to talk to him is faint-worthy too.

"Uh… Hi, Sasuke… It's Gaara." I finally say, trying to keep my voice steady. Maybe I can just tell him that our phone is weird if he gets suspicious.

"Oh, hey, Gaara. One second, I gotta delete your number off the caller ID listing." There's a pause, then a few bleeps, before Sasuke's voice returns. "There. Glad you were able to call, what's up?"

I stare blankly at my wall, trying to decide exactly what _is_ up, before giving my usual answer. "The ceiling." I feel like an idiot immediately, but what else is there to say?

Sasuke laughs, though, a short chuckle, before I hear a sound like someone falling onto a couch--it's a sound I'm used to hearing, since Naruto is constantly flopping down onto his couch when I talk to him on the phone.

"That's funny." He finally says, and I can't help my own laugh. After a moment, we both seem to calm down.

"I was glad to see you didn't run away today when I sat down." Sasuke says, and I remain silent, since there's nothing to respond to that. He takes my silence as confusion, though, and elaborates. "At lunch. Tuesday when I sat down you ran away almost immediately. Today you stayed there. And you got my note, I'm glad."

Well, how to respond to that? _Tuesday I knew I'd have to deal with your brother in gym_? Or, even better, _Well today I didn't have to go get drugged up._ Yeah, right.

"So, why did you want me to call?" I settle on asking, since the curiosity has been driving me crazy… well, crazier.

"Didn't you read the whole note? I wanted to talk." He answers, and I almost feel like an idiot, until he continues. "Those rumors going around… they true?"

Here's the tough part. Do I lie, and force myself into harboring a secret crush forever, or do I tell the truth and risk utter rejection and hatred? Time for the unhappy medium.

"Depends on which rumors you listen to. Like that crap about me having gay porn in my locker. That's utter bull. Kankurou is the only person I know with porn in his locker, because he ran out of room under his bed." I'm talking way too much, considering I'm no where near at ease. Am I a nervous talker? I didn't think so. Maybe I am relaxed? Damn it, this is confusing.

"That's… different." Sasuke says slowly, and I can almost see his face wrinkled into a--cute--look of confused disgust. "So, what about the other rumors about you? How many of those need to be disproved?"

Damn, now I can't avoid it with bullshit. I can lie, but what's the point? Somehow I doubt Sasuke would believe me.

"Again, it depends on which rumors you mean, you'll have to be more specific, I'm not in the advanced classes." Keep stalling, Gaara, you've got this one set.

"All right. _Do _you like guys more than girls?"

Damn it all to Hell. Okay, just calm down and answer, he can't hate you any more than you're all ready hated. "For the most part, yeah. Girls creep me out, with the mood swings and bleeding for a week every month without dying." Again he laughs, and I feel a bit more comfortable.

"And do you like me?" Sasuke's voice is a whisper, as if he's as afraid of the answer as I am. I swallow hard, opening my mouth to answer.

It's then that the phone clicks in.

"Yo, Gaara, get off the phone and call Naruto, he's so desperate to talk to you he called _my_ cell." Kankurou says, before hanging up again. Part of me damns my luck. The other part celebrates.

"You heard him, right, Sasuke? I'd better get going before blondie has a coronary." I say, trying to avoid having to answer before I hang up.

"Wait. Just answer me first, okay? Do you?" Fucking hell.

"Uh... Yeah. A lot." I say quickly, hitting the end button on the phone without waiting for a response of any sort. I wait a few moments, before dialing Naruto's number.

The entire time I'm talking to him, I can't help but wonder what Sasuke is thinking, now that he knows.

--

I told you things would get happy... Or will they? For all we know, Sasuke's going to make Itachi royally kick Gaara's ass now, because Sasuke could be a major bastard--who happens to be good at acting. Oh yes, plot bunnies are procreating in my mind. Ha ha, ha ha ha.

Oh, the next chapter might not be up for a few days. Gonna be busy, I've got a lot of crap to do as of late. I'll try for sometime next week, though. Keep the reviews coming, I really appreciate them.


	6. Friday

Notes: Formerly called Therapy, the title changed to Emotional Instability, and probably will change again. I have this entire story written out, and I'll post once a week until all seven chapters are up--probably on Mondays, unless I'm not here.

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo.

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious), mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

Last full chapter, do enjoy!

Thanks to all seven of the previous chapter's reviewers. Glad to see some new people reading, too.

green24 - I saw something similar on a bumper sticker and was like "Well, have to include THAT."

Yourperfectdisaster - I should write a one-shot about their maybe-date… That could be funny. Haha, thanks! And, yes, Gaara's no longer sad little emo.

yukiislikesnow - Wishful thinking, yum… And, as for Sasuke taking it all right… Well, I guess you'll have to read. Ha.

Naitachal666 - Glad you like it, thanks for the read and the review. And, as for NejiHaku… Long hair love.

Devil Subaru Chan - A Sasuke fan girl, yay! And, you never know… Sasuke can be an evil bastard when he wants to…

amskitty214 - Just for the girly scream, here's another chapter… Though my ears hurt now. And, thanks for joining the… loyal fans.

Mizuki hikari - Just because you asked, I shall continue. Thanks for the read and review.

Friday

"Cheese whiz."

"No way."

"Seriously."

"On a sandwich?"

"With pickles."

"That's gross, you're gonna make me sick."

Previous to that last sentence, Naruto and I had been talking about the weirdest thing we'd ever eaten. He had mentioned cheese whiz and pickle sandwiches, which had caused Haku to gag.

Lunch is so interesting some days. Especially when practically everyone is in a good mood. I'm feeling better about getting that whole lead weight of my crush on Sasuke finally off my chest, Naruto is glad because he helped score the winning goal in the football game last night, and Haku is just always perky.

Naruto is also glad because his friend Neji set up a--supervised--date between Naruto and Hinata. But I'm not allowed to mention that at school.

"A couple of weeks ago Kankurou tried to make a soufflé. I don't know what he did wrong, but somehow we got burned chocolate pudding, bread, and animal crackers. It tasted pretty good, but it looked weird."

"Why was Kankurou making a soufflé?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"I still haven't figured it out exactly, but it was something to do with a challenge from Temari." I shrug, going back to my pizza.

"Back in my old school, they always tried to make fancy 'cuisine', only because they were cooking for hundreds, they make it cheap. So, like, a chicken cordon bleu was a chicken patty, with some American cheese on it, and some other stuff. Really gross combination, and it looked awful too." Haku adds in, not seeming as sick now.

A trey sets down on the table next to mine, across from Haku, and I glance up, barely holding back a smile as Sasuke sits down.

"Oh, great. Are you going to eat with us every day, Ice Princess?" Naruto asks, sarcastically, leaning back on the wall behind the table.

"I just might do that, since it will annoy you into doing something incredibly stupid." Sasuke answers, smirking smugly. I glance over at him, noticing that his left hand is down at his side, while he eats with his right hand. Abruptly, his left hand--which is right next to me, since he's on my right side--is on _my_ leg, and it's all I can do not to choke on my pizza. A moment later he's back in his own personal space, but I see a note sitting on the leg of my jeans. Dropping my pizza and feigning having an itch, I grab the paper, stuffing it into my pocket.

"Talk about gross food, that Italian place in the mall is awful. The sauce they use is so watery, and they undercook or overcook everything." Naruto is saying, making faces as he does.

"What would you possibly know about good food, Naruto? You eat ramen six times a week, or else school lunches." I answer, picking at my steamed vegetables, which smell vile.

"I resent that, it's not my fault I can't cook." Naruto snaps back, crossing his arms.

"But it is your fault you're too lazy to buy yourself instant meals that have at least some health value." Sasuke cuts in, grinning. Making fun of Naruto's eating habits is always fun, and it seems he knows that too.

"What is this, Gang Up on Naruto Day? Jeez, what about Haku? I don't think he even eats meat, that's certainly not healthy!" Naruto yells, looking like he's actually upset. Of course, he's not, I can tell.

"Shut up, blondie. It's called being a vegetarian. I eat peanut butter like you wouldn't believe for my protein." Haku answers without looking up from his salad. Naruto looks lost, so he sighs and waves his hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine. If my eating habits are so bad, why don't you guys come cook for me?"

"Because I'm not going to waste my time." Sasuke says, almost simultaneous with my own answer of "Because I can't cook."

I jump visibly this time when Sasuke's hand lands on my leg, but Naruto and Haku don't seem to notice. Glancing down as if looking for something in my backpack, I watch as he points to the clock, holds up five fingers, then makes the sign language for 'toilet'--his first curled, thumb under index finger, shaking a bit. Meet him in the bathroom in five minutes? I nod, muttering an 'okay', as if I had found something I was looking for, sitting up straight again.

"Well, I'm going to go kill time elsewhere. Later, weird long-haired-kid who's name I don't know, stupid blonde, and red head et cetera category." Sasuke stands and walks off, apparently knowing that his message got through to me.

"I'm weird?" Haku asks, looking innocent. "And he doesn't know my name? Terrible."

"At least he didn't call you stupid." Naruto mutters, sticking his tongue out at Sasuke's back.

I glance at the clock, at the same time answering. "Hey, come on, I'm 'et cetera'. How much worse can you get?" Five minutes, and then I see what he wants. Probably to tell me he thinks I'm disgusting.

I skip to Chiyo's office that afternoon, and even try skipping up the stairs, until I almost fall and break my neck. So instead I take them two at a time, and skip down the hallways of the landings. I plop into a seat in the waiting room, grinning like an idiot for all to see.

Five minutes before three, the door to Chiyo's office opens, and Hinata walks out. I'm so happy I actually wave to her, and--to my surprise--she walks over and stands in front of me, looking down and fidgeting nervously.

"What's up, Hinata?" I ask, trying to not freak her out. The fact that I know her name probably isn't reassuring, though.

"Y-you're Gaara, right?" She whispers, and I nods. "N-Neji-niisan said you were fr-friends with Naruto… the guy he wants me to g-get to know."

"I am." I answer, sitting up a bit more. Supervised date, and this Neji guy probably is doing a background check on Naruto and his friends, just in case. Sounds rather intense.

Hinata sits down next to me, looking away nervously. Honestly, am I that creepy? "Neji-niisan told me that N-Naruto was nice and funny… but that he also didn't r-really know him. What's he l-like?" She whispers, and I tilt my head.

"Well, nice and funny are the tip of the iceberg, I suppose. He's… an individual. Like, he plays sports, but isn't all jock-ish about it. And he's really only nice to people that seem like they need it--well, he's nice to everyone, but he's really nice to people who seem like they need his loud, sometimes annoying friendship. That doesn't make any sense."

"Oh… I see…" She answers, before looking up at the clock, jumping up. "Th-thanks, Gaara. I'd better get going, good-bye." With that she's gone, and I shrug, making my own way into Chiyo's office. Just what I need, a friend as weird as I am. Or as crazy. Whatever.

Before I even sit down, Chiyo is barraging my with questions. "How was your day? Did you talk to Hinata? She told me about her cousin telling her that your friend Naruto there was interested in her, and I thought that talking to you might give her an idea of what he was like."

"Uh… my day was amazing, I talked to her and told her what he was like, sort of, and I know that Naruto is trying to get to know her, because he told me last night on the phone, after I hung up with Sasuke." I wonder if she'll notice that last bit.

"You talked to Sasuke on the phone? What about?" Perception freak.

"He wanted to know if the rumors were true. I told him which ones were. We also talked today in school." here I take a breath, getting ready to relay possibly the happiest conversation of my life. Well, certainly the happiest one to take place in a blue-and-green-tiled bathroom.

-Flashback-

_When five minutes had passed, Gaara excused himself from lunch to 'take a piss'. Ah, so eloquent. He made his way down the hall into the boy's room, looking around for a moment for Sasuke, who stepped in soon after him. Without hesitation, the Uchiha closed the bathroom door, checked to make sure they were alone, then leaned himself on the door. _

"_So, you do." he said, expecting the red-head to know exactly what he was talking about. Of course he did, what else could there be to discuss privately in a bathroom?_

"_Yeah…" Gaara had answered quickly, tugging nervously at the sleeves on his long-sleeved t-shirt. He had so many questions he wanted to ask, the first being _Are you going to hate me forever?_ Instead, he kept quiet, looking down at the floor._

"_Well, that certainly makes things easier." Sasuke had said, moving away from the door and standing directly in front of Gaara. Personal space apparently wasn't taken into consideration._

"_Easier how?" He had asked, voice soft, to keep it from shaking. _Please, just say you hate me and leave. Don't torment me with suspense, or lies. Just get it over with. I don't even care if your brother is outside that door waiting to kill me… Just give me some sort of response_. He had mentally begged, biting his lip._

"_Easier because now I don't have to worry about rejection." Sasuke's arms had gone around him, and Gaara had stiffened for a moment, before realizing exactly what was going on. Hesitantly, his arms went around the Uchiha, as he closed his eyes. _

"_I suppose this is going to disappoint a lot of girls in school." He had whispered, jokingly, the happiness and relief making him want to fall down and cry. It was better to save that for later, though._

"_Their fault for not noticing my flamboyant tendencies." Sasuke had answered with a laugh, letting him go. "If my brother ever bothers you again, tell me, and I'll take care of things." He had added, leaning forward and giving the red-head just the lightest kiss on the cheek. "Call me tonight if you want, preferably on my cell phone. And don't worry about that note I gave you, it says all this crap I just said here, in more words." With that Sasuke had opened the door and left, leaving Gaara standing there in his own bubble of happiness. _

-End Flashback-

By the time I finish relaying that to Chiyo, I'm tearing up again, which is really sad because only girls cry when they're happy. I rub at my eyes, grinning. "Itachi gave me this really dirty look during gym, but he didn't bother me at all, and I heard him tell Kisame 'not today' when I was in the locker room. I think that he isn't the only one with influence in his family, and that Sasuke must have something over his head to make him leave me alone."

"That's really good, I suppose. Either way, I'm happy for you. Hard to believe that we won't be seeing each other every afternoon anymore." Chiyo smiles, and I grin back. Part of me wants to have a sappy, girly moment and hug her, but that'd be awkward. Instead I glance at the clock, and notice that an hour is up.

"I'd better get going, Dad said last night that he's getting out of work early and taking us for Chinese." I say, standing up and stretching, lifting my bag.

"Gaara, are you going to tell your family about your relationship?" Chiyo asks suddenly, making me pause.

"I think I'll tell Kankurou and Temari, but not Dad. He'd not a total asshole, but I don't think he'd entirely approve of the whole guy-with-guy thing." I shrug, grinning. "Maybe I'll just see what happens. I can always move in with Naruto if Dad flips out on me."

"Well, then. Feel free to write, call, or visit any time. I must say, you were one of my most… interesting patients. And I've had a lot of interesting patients." Chiyo smiles, and I leave before she can do something weird, like hug me.

Chinese for dinner, then calling Sasuke to maybe hang out this weekend. Hell, if things keep looking this positive, maybe I'll get him to be friends with Naruto. Or something.

--

Aww, Gaara's world is all positive now! I'm such a sucker for happy endings.

After this is the epilogue, and then... story complete! I'm going away this weekend, so I'll post up the final part on Monday.


	7. Epilogue

Notes: Formerly called Therapy, the title changed to Emotional Instability, and probably will change again. I have this entire story written out, and I'll post once a week until all seven chapters are up--probably on Mondays, unless I'm not here.

Disclaimer: Naruto and it's characters belong to Kishimoto. Not I. Boo.

Story Summary: Every afternoon, after school, Gaara meets with his therapist to try and figure out why he went crazy last year and nearly killed someone. At the same time, she helps him realize things about himself. SasuGaa mainly, mentions of NaruHina and HakuNeji.

Warnings: Rated M for language, abuse, male-male relationships (though there's nothing serious), mention of suicide, violence, and some other things.

Aww... The last chapter. This makes me feel sad, because I got such a great response for this story, and now it's over. Before I start out on my review responses, I just want to thank everyone who read this little bit of insanity, and especially my reviewers. Even though I would have kept posting it even without reviews, having you guys around was really great.

And, I can't believe the last chapter got NINE reviews. I'm glad everyone seemed to like how I ended that, not overly sappy and all. It's what I was trying for.

Yourperfectdisaster - I'm glad you liked it so much! -smile- And, come on, it's Gaara, one of the biggest angst-ridden characters in the show. Why the hell would it just become rainbows and unicorns?

Devil Subaru Chan - I liked the suspense of that whole seeing Chiyo instead of Sasuke. When I wrote it I was thinking 'Crap, what's gonna happen?' Lol.

Glil - Aww... Well, yes, I updated, and you got to read two chapters at once. Whee. As for the story being longer, me and epics don't always get along (I have about four in the making, that I'll never finish).

Kage of Fire - The last update, so no more 'asap'. But it is great that Gaara's positive now.

green24 - I'll have to check out that story. And don't worry, a review is a review, still smiles me smile!

Go-Go Chicken - As if I could write a sad ending, I'd make myself cry. And yeah, it's short, but it's like the longest completed work I've ever written.

yukiislikesnow - Yes, almost over... Unless I do a sequel... Hmm...

fullmetalguitar - Sweet and perfect, but not sappy... I like that. -smile- Yes, the happy bubble all around.

Mizuki hikari - Continue I shall, though not after this. Glad you liked the alst chapter.

Epilogue

Dear Chiyo,

Well, it's been over six months since I stopped seeing you every day. Sorry for not writing sooner, but I never really had anything to say.

My new therapist, Tsunade, is really helping me sort out my emotions. She says that I should try finding a creative outlet for them, so I searched and searched, discovered I couldn't write worth crap, couldn't draw well enough to express my feelings, and I suck at sports by choice. Then I found music. I joined up the school band--yes, I'm a band geek, stop laughing--and play the trombone. Plus I'm teaching myself guitar, and making my own music. A lot of it isn't all that depressed, either. Maybe I'll send you a tape some time.

You might all ready know this, but Naruto and Hinata are now officially together. Funny enough, because Hinata started hanging out with Naruto, who would hang out with me and Sasuke, Neji started to hang out with us too. He's really cool, but doesn't talk a lot, and acts like a body guard or something for Hinata. Anyways, Haku also hangs out with us most of the time, and I've seen him and Neji giving each other eyes. It's really funny, since neither of them will admit it.

While I'm on the subject of couples, it merits mention that Sasuke and I had our six-month anniversary last week, and spent it watching horror movies on my couch. Well, actually, we spent most of the time cuddled up to each other, but I'm sure you'd rather think that we sat quietly and stared at the television screen. Either way, it was really fun, because we were home alone. Dad was away on a business trip, and Kankurou had forced Temari to go to a friend's house, then left himself.

Of course, it wasn't as great as it could have been. Dad came home just as Sasuke was about to leave and nearly flipped out--probably because he walked into the house to see his son wrapped around some random guy in a lip-lock. He told me later that he thought I was being raped, though. And he forced us both to sit down and went through all the talk about using protection and getting tested for all sorts of diseases before we have sex. So apparently he doesn't care that I like guys.

Though the talk was really graphic, and made me want to throw up my popcorn. Makes me wonder if he'll do the same thing when he finds out about Temari's boyfriend.

So yes, my life is looking wonderful. Sasuke told me that he found out this wonderful little secret--which is refuses to divulge--about Itachi, and now holds almost complete control over his older brother. So we get chauffeured anywhere we want to go when we feel like going ut, and Itachi isn't even allowed to say mean comments. I'm waiting for him to show up at my house in the front seat of his fancy sports car wearing a little suit and cap, and hold the door open for me and refer to me as 'sir'. It's only so long until Sasuke thinks it'd be hilarious.

This letter is getting long, and study hall is getting short, so I'll end here. Thanks for all you did for me, Chiyo. I hate to think what kind of crazy I'd be if you hadn't talked some sense into me six months ago. Maybe next you can help Naruto, I've always thought he was nuts.

Sincerely,

Gaara

--

Aww... It's over. I remember thinking, like back when I wrote chapter three (Wednesday), that I wanted the epilogue to be a letter to Chiyo from Gaara. Then I realised I'd need a prologue too, so I wrote about what made him crazy really quick (and it hurt me here -indicates heart- to injure Sasori-kun).

Okay, and now for the fun part. I currently have a few stories I'm working on (listed in the 'things to look forward to' in my profile), but I always love to make myself have more files with -WIP after them than completed files. If anyone has a request relating to this particular universe--like some HakuNeji stuff, or Naruto and Hinata's supervised date, or something--drop me a line, and I'll try my best. No promises about when it'll be out, but I can damn well try. Especially if it's just a one-shot, because those are easy for me to come out with.

Shameless self-promotion:

Love those cute Uchiha boys? Then go read my various Uchiha Drabbles, which cover all sorts of themes. And leave a review, they encourage me to write more.


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